Sunday Dinner
by JadeMac2442
Summary: Academy Era. Kirk was ordered to come to dinner to meet all of Pike's advisees. Imagine his surprise to learn that he is the only one. Symptoms of Fatigue Verse.


These are mentioned in Chapter 18 of Symptoms of Fatigue. I was asked to write one, and the idea intrigued me. If I get more inspiration, there may be more.

Kirk tried to get ready for dinner. He didn't know what he should put on. He didn't want to look stupid in front of the rest of Pike's caseload. If it were just Pike, then it wouldn't matter. But he didn't want to make Pike look bad.

And kind of everything he did made Pike look bad.

He agonized over his wardrobe for a bit before finally settling on a simple blue shirt that matched his eyes. Pike had been clear about the "no uniforms" policy.

Kirk hated meeting new Starfleet people under circumstances like this. All they usually saw was his name, and then they were desperate to talk about his father.

He sighed. He really didn't want to go to this…thing.

But Pike had insisted, and what Pike wanted, Pike got. He'd done so much for Kirk.

Kirk cared for him. Genuinely.

Kirk had a lot of friends, and a fair amount of acquaintances. But a lot of people liked him for his name, and a lot of people liked him for his looks. And some of them liked him for his flirting. Kirk smirked at himself in the mirror. Who wouldn't?

But very, very few people had ever liked him for himself.

Bones did. Bones was an exception to everything.

And Kirk thought that Pike might be, too.

Pike was one of the few people Kirk had ever admired that hadn't fallen off the pedestal he put them on.

Kirk slid his legs into a close fitting pair of a jeans that didn't have too many holes in them and slid the shirt over his head. He buttoned it and rolled up the sleeves. Shouldn't look too formal. Just…nice.

He really didn't want to do this. He sighed as he tossled his hair in the mirror. Oh well. Nothing for it. Pike had been clear. All of his Advisees were coming for Sunday dinner. Kirk was one of Pike's advisees. Therefore Kirk was coming to dinner.

So Kirk was going to dinner.

Kirk had heard around campus that Pike was pretty exclusive with who accepted as an advisee. He only took the best. Kirk figured that every single one of Pike's kids had a 4.0 and was the top every one of their classes. Kirk himself had a 4.0, but he'd had to bust his ass to get it. It hadn't been effortless or anything. He knew he wasn't perfect, and he wasn't looking forward to having that rubbed in his face by the rest of Pike's counselees, who would probably bring home to him the fact that he was a charity case.

It wasn't like he didn't know he was a charity case, dammit.

Pike had probably only taken him on because Pike had known his father.

Damn, but Kirk didn't want to go to this. But he'd skipped the last one, and Pike had been pissed. Super pissed even.

Kirk had been surprised that Pike had noticed he was missing. He must have a bunch of advisees for Kirk to meet.

He sighed again, and looked in the mirror. This was as good as he was going to get. He plastered on his biggest smirk, and let the expression sink into his mood. Handling assholes was always easiest with a swagger.

He grabbed the bottle of wine he'd ordered special for the occasion, and walked toward the officers' quarters.

He let himself muse along the way and was lost in possible explanations for solving one of the millennium problems when he realized that he was at Pike's door.

He took a deep breath, reminded himself that he'd coped with harder things before, and he plastered on his smirk.

He pressed the buzzer.

He heard Pike shout "Coming" through the door. It was an old fashioned style door, that needed to be opened, and Kirk wondered if the house had come that way or if Pike was just an old fashioned kind of a guy.

Now, Bones was an old fashioned sort of a guy. Kirk bet that McCoy had had an old fashioned door at his old place. Come to think of it, Kirk realized that whenever he thought of McCoy in Georgia he pictured something from at least four centuries ago. He wondered how McCoy would take that. Probably as a compliment.

Kirk heard the door swing open, and looked up into Pike's smiling face.

"Hey, kiddo" Pike said.

Kirk blinked back his surprise at Pike himself opening the door. "Hey…uh, Sir. Captain... Sir."

Pike's smile widened at his stumbling.

"It's informal tonight, Jim. No ranks, please. Come on in." He held the door open and preceded Kirk back into the house. Kirk followed, somewhat reluctantly.

It was simply decorated with few embellishments. Pike, it seemed, was not a man for needless ornamentation, which made sense given what Kirk knew of him. He followed Pike through the living room and into the kitchen.

He was surprised to see that there was no one else there yet. It seemed was the first to arrive. He couldn't be that early. He checked his chrono, surreptitiously trying to check the time.

He wasn't early.

He wasn't sneaky enough, because Pike caught him and smirked. "No, you aren't early."

Kirk cocked his head. "Where…?"

"You're my only one, Jim." Pike interrupted.

"What?"

"Captain's prerogative. I don't have to take advisees. So I don't. Too much work. No pay off. Never wanted one before."

Kirk's mind was racing. "Then why….." he trailed off again.

Pike shrugged. "Because I wanted to. That simple."

Kirk looked down and felt his stomach warm. He wasn't used to being wanted. He was more used to being a burden. He would have shuffled his feet, if he wouldn't feel too much like a blushing school girl.

"But why did you tell me …?"

"-that all my advisees were coming? Because I didn't think you'd accept if it was just you. You'd think I was going out of my way. And you'd have found a way to get out of it, so that I wouldn't have to feel obligated."

Kirk laughed a little to himself. Yeah, he would have thought that.

Pike continued, "So I lied. And here you are."

Kirk smiled up at Pike, and this time, his smile was genuine. "Uh, here, Sir." Kirk passed off the wine. "This is for dinner."

Pike took it and read the label. "Huh, what do you know? You do have taste. Who would have thought?"

Kirk let his smile fade to a mock frown. "All due respect. Shut up, sir."

Pike laughed. "Come on, let's eat." He gestured to a chair.

Kirk looked at the table for the first time, and noticed a large lasagna for the first time. It was still steaming with heat. "Looks good."

"Thanks. Don't be impressed. It's easier than it looks."

Kirk seriously doubted that. But he laughed anyway. And at Pike's prompting, he helped himself.

They talked through most of dinner, about all kinds of things, but largely about Kirk's time at the Academy so far. His classes, his teachers, theories he was working on, all sorts of things that Kirk would have never expected Pike to care about, especially because they all related to Kirk.

Pike seemed genuinely…interested. It was a nice feeling. And perhaps because Pike was interested or perhaps because of the wine, Kirk talked a great deal more and great deal deeper than he usually did.

About midway through the meal, Pike stopped talking and just listened.

Kirk didn't really notice. He was just enjoying having someone to really talk to. It was like talking to Bones, only with less complaining.

Kirk pushed back from the table more satisfied than he'd felt in a long time.

In so many ways.

He helped Pike with cleaning and putting away the dishes, as he thanked Pike for dinner. "Best time I've had in a while, Sir."

"Me too, Jim." Pike clapped him on the shoulder and Kirk felt warm and satisfied in a way that had nothing to do with the food. He found he could not bear the warm regard in Pike's gaze and looked away, breaking their eye contact.

He wasn't sure why Pike enjoyed his company, especially not with as often as Kirk fucked up, but he was glad that Pike did.

Pike cleared his throat, breaking into Kirk's thoughts. "So next time, Jim-"

"Next time, Sir?...Uh, Captain Pike, I-" Kirk startled and tripped over his words.

"Next week in fact," Pike said. "You will come. You will arrive on time, and you will not be nervous beforehand. You may consider this an order. I may even let you help cook."

Kirk smiled. "I look forward to it, sir."

"Good," said Pike.


End file.
